Google has made somewhat of a shock announcement tonight in one of its spring clean ups, confirming that it will be shutting down a host of Google services including the Google Reader RSS aggregation service.
The news has come as a major shock to many a blogger and news writer as the service is used by many (professional and consumer) people across the world to bring all of their favorite news and information RSS streams into one place.
Google has announced that the reader service will be closing on July 1st of this year and has posted a warning to customers currently using the service with a pop up notice.
The service was originally launched back in 2005 and has taken over from many similar services over its lifespan, but it would seem that Google has decided the end is nigh for the aggregation service and will close its doors officially on July 1st, 2013.
Google announced the closure alongside a host of other changes on the official Google Blog, where Urs Hölzle, SVP Technical Infrastructure states:
“We launched Google Reader in 2005 in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favorite websites. While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined. So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader. Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data, including their subscriptions, with Google Takeout over the course of the next four months.”
Other features that are being cleaned out include:
- GUI Builder and five UiApp widgets for AppsScript
- CalDAV API for non-whitelisted developers
- Google Building Maker
- Google Cloud Connect
- Google Voice App For Blackberry
- Search API for Shopping
- Snapseed Desktop for Macintosh and Windows
Many are speculating that the Reader service could become part of the Google+ in some way once they close the service in the ongoing attempt to make the social network a success, but at this time it seems Google is just closing reader because it can.
We are gutted as it’s a big part of most blogger’s lives!